Disappearing Forum Post

[SolitaryWay]

Hi Costas,
I have noticed that several of my forum post have somehow disappeared. I am wondering what may have happened to them. Unless I am missing something, I cannot seem to find any of my post from 2013 at all. Could it be some sort of forum software glitch?

Thanks and Happy New Year,
Solitaryway

[JG]

The forum was made a bit of a mess, so Costas asked me to clean it up, which involved removing whole topics in some cases.

[SolitaryWay]

Hi Jon,
If I may ask, what kind of mess was made that would cause you to remove entire topics? Could not the thread have been locked or something less dramatic? That could have prevented a servant's possible ministering to another from being completely blotted out. Quite a few people took the time and care to include potential helps inside of those topics. Was this done because of a particular user on the forum? If so, why not shut it down with the proper tools and let the reader judge the circumstances for themselves?

I appreciate that you are a moderator and a great help for Costas, but I have been a member here four years and post on rare occassion. When I do, it's usually from the heart. You seem to have taken several of my post out with one thrust of the sickle! There must have been a better way.

Wow!!!

[csterg]

I think Jon has taken out very specific posts (which have been inflamatory) and i seriously doubt that he took out your posts. Are you sure you cannot find your posts? The forum is backed up daily (with a few exception), so it may be possible to take a look to history,
Costas

[JG]

I removed what I needed to remove, and that is the end of the matter.

[SolitaryWay]

Hi Costas,
I have searched carefully and cannot seem to find any of my post from this past year whatsoever. They were indeed here beforehand. I can certainly understand taking out individual highly incendiary postings, if need be, but it appears as if that is not what was actually done in this case. It was not only my forum postings which vanished. Did you by chance save the deleted postings and topics somehow Jon?

Thanks,
Solitaryway

[Jeff]

I should know better than to give my opinion when not asked, but I'm a slow learner.

I believe I saw what was happening as it happened. A user who had made a massive amount of posts and threads started changing and deleting his posts, leaving a huge mess. Just deleting the (ex)member's posts and leaving the "helpful" posts would have still left a big mess, as the context of the threads were removed and the replies in many cases would have no longer made any sense. If I recall correctly, even the subject of many threads were left blank adding to the huge mess.

It's a sad thing, but I don't see how Jon could have made a better choice. Maybe he could have spent hours/days attempting to reconstruct the massive number of threads, I don't know, but if he could have I don't think the return on his investment would have been worth it. I believe I had also made some posts on those threads, but I don't really care if they're still there or not (I don't remember all the posts I have made, and I haven't checked). I'm sure whatever posts I have made can be repeated with little or no problem if similar questions arise, and if the questions never arise again, then it really doesn't matter.

Of course my opinion is my opinion, not necessarily based on full knowledge. If it's inappropriate or unhelpful I have no problem if it's deleted.

[csterg]

Jeff is correct.
Jon did well to do what he did, even if he had to delete posts 'in the middle' that were not offending but made no sense if left alone. Jon is putting a lot of effort in keeping the forum well-moderated and I totally trust his judgment, as I do for this particular case where he had to work a lot to bring the forum back to 'normal'. We should be thankful for all the work and time that Jon is putting to do this.

It's an unpleasant side-effect that this happened, but what is done is done. I am sorry that some of the posts there were lost, for sure this was not intentional.

Costas

PS: I am locking this topic since there is no reason to pursue it more.